Smoking ban enforcers have been out in force in Barrhead to remind the cabbies of this small Renfrewshire town that it's now illegal to smoke in their cars.
Community safety convener Councillor Mary Montague said: "Many people have forgotten that there is anti-smoking legislation in place and that our community wardens have powers to enforce the legislation."
My emphasis. I doubt very much that anyone has forgotten about the smoking ban, even now that there are no longer officers dedicated to enforcing it. Now this duty is undertaken by council wardens, along with all their other enforcement duties in the locality, and they certainly have their work cut out for them!
The town's other iniquities can be studied in the main story (link below), including dropping litter, fly tipping, speeding, noise nuisance, dog fouling and being in possession of an open alcohol container. (The ban on public drinking was obviously not doing its work, so this loophole of possessing an open receptacle has just been closed.) One wonders if Barrhead has any legitimate entertainment left (I have never been there).
This is a curious news report, as befits the times we live in, reminding people of the enormous number of things they can be penalised for by the council and local police officers, and concluding with a phone number they can use to report their neighbours' misdemeanours.
We are now three and a half years into the Scottish smoking ban, less than a month into the new licensing regime and within weeks of a government vote on a tobacco display ban. Government concern for the nation's health has led to an environment where people may not smoke indoors or drink outdoors, and where environmental health officers dedicate their efforts to punishing the nation's citizens without any positive effect on health or social harmony.
And before anyone talks of reductions in heart attacks: readers may have noted a rash of stories about an alleged drop in heart attacks of 10 per cent in England. There is so little evidence to back up these stories (in The Sunday Times among other papers) that even ASH disowned them (see Chris Snowdon's account here). Chris further points out here:
It has been estimated that smoking is responsible for 11% of total cardiovascular deaths (PDF). Therefore, even if tobacco was banned and everybody stopped smoking, deaths from heart disease would not – could not – fall by more 11%. The idea that banning smoking in bars and restaurants can reduce the heart attack rate more effectively than the total abolition of tobacco is plainly ludicrous.
There is much wrong with the government's approach to health policy: not least is its reliance on nonsense such as that enormous drops in heart attacks can result from smoking bans, and its denial that air can be cleaned of impurities, or that bar staff are capable of operating radio controlled vending machines to ensure the underage can't get access to the tobacco sold from them. Their cave-age attitude to problem-solving technologies will not resolve any of the economic difficulties in which we now find ourselves.
This lack of any positive outcome from the smoking ban legislation needs to be addressed by the Scottish Government, which suggested that it might carry out 'post-legislative scrutiny' before it comes up for election. We would welcome an end to the unseemly pursuit of cabbies by council wardens in search of people to fine.
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